In recent years, 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO-1234yf) has attracted attention as a new refrigerant to be substituted for 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (HFC-134a) which is a greenhouse gas. Here, in this specification, with respect to a halogenated hydrocarbon, in brackets after its chemical name, an abbreviated name of the compound is indicated. However, in this specification, as the case requires, instead of the chemical name, its abbreviated name is used.
As a method for the production of HFO-1234yf, for example, a method is known wherein 1,1-dichloro-2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (CFO-1214ya) obtainable by dehydrofluorinating 1,1-dichloro-2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropane (HCFC-225ca) with an aqueous alkaline solution in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst, is used as a raw material and is reduced by hydrogen to produce HFO-1234yf.
However, in such a method, the number of reaction steps is many, and purification by distillation of an intermediate product or the final product is required. On the other hand, a method for producing HFO-1234yf by one reaction involving thermal decomposition, from a raw material containing a chlorofluorocarbon, has been proposed. As such a method, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a method to obtain HFO-1234yf by pyrolyzing a mixture of chloromethane (R40) and chlorodifluoromethane (R22) and/or tetrafluoroethylene (TFE).